Articles about Apache

Application portability

A web app can be dropped into a directory anywhere on a web server, without any configuration or user intervention, and still be capable of rewriting application URLs with mod_rewrite. Install scripts are not necessary. We don't need any hard-coded paths for RewriteBase in the .htaccess file. Here's how to do it.

Legacy environments

Backward compatibility testing can be a bit of a drag. The actual testing may be straightforward, but setting up the environment often is not. A little while ago I have put a PHP app through its paces on Apache 1.3 with PHP 5.2. Apache 1.3 still accounts for about 5% of Apache installations out there. If an app is distributed directly to end users, perhaps on shared hosting, a market share of 5% is reason enough to make it work on old Apache, or at least give it a shot.

Current distros don't offer support for Apache 1.3, and haven't done so for ages. So here are my notes for setting up a reusable test system in a VM. I've also thrown in a recipe for setting up Java 6, which involves a bit of fiddling in a legacy OS. With Java 6 installed, even PhpStorm can be run in the stone-age VM.